K'hh Tllyko
SUPER WORK IN PROGRESS Classification and Dialects An agglutinative language, consistent, with little dialectic difference across regions. K'hh Tllyko features an ergative-absolutive alignment in all case excluding the copula, which is nominative-accusative. K'hh Tllyko is heavily influenced by the Ringap Language of the northern Mountains. Phonology K'hh Tllyko has 4 basic vowels: a y o e, phonetically /a ʏ-ɤ o ɛ-ɜ/. It is notable that due to isolated sound changes the usage of the /a/ continues to move towards /æ/, sometimes merging with the /ɛ/ on unstressed syllables. The y also shows limited flexibility depending on phonotactic position, often allophonically aligning with the consonant before it. Sounds Consonants The nasal is often devoiced and lowered in speech and even sometimes sounded as an h or ʜ and written as such. Vowels Germination There is no formal germination of any kind however, consonant germination can be interpolated from a heavily stressed syllable's onset consonant ie. (In English an emphatic "Fantastic!)" could contain a germinated t in the"tas" syllable). Diphthongs There are no dipthongs in K'hh Tllyko. Phonotactics Word stems (all parts of speech), are ©'©,©V©,©'. *The (') represents and ejective breath of air, which can form the coda of a syllable. For nouns, vowels are uncommon in the stem. For verbs they are more common. Affixes can follow any of the above mentioned patters as well as (V) and © single sound morphemes. Although single sound morphemes tend to be suffixial in nature. Vowel initial morphemes are rare, and vowel initial words are nearly impossible. Ejective final words are very rare, and almost always aspirated, or simply non-ejective. Writing System It should be noted that the š and þ are found only rarely in historical texts and are nearly extinct in the spoken language, as non-affricates. The one nasel left in K'hh Tllyko is steadily been devoiced and allophonically lowered over time thus that its almost unused in casual speech but persists in some lesser used vocabulary as well as still some grammatical constructs. Grammar and Syntax Word Order Basic word order is VOS or Verb-Agent. Nouns Nouns have 4 morphological declension patters in K'hh Tllyko, one for a definite-ergative noun as well as one for an indefinite-ergative noun, one for a definite-absolutive and one for an indefinite-absolutive noun. There are 4 gender variations for each. Example: cat - še The cat (DEF.ABS)= p'še'tš' Verbs K'hh Tllyko has a disputed past tense, although it is most often described as an aspect. The conjugations of a given verb of the 2 main groups of verbs, (verbs ending in consonants - A verbs, and verbs ending in vowels + special verbs - B verbs). The structure of a given A verb is as follows: The structure of a given B verb is as follows: The unique syntaxial environment of K'hh Tllyko sees a wealth of split conjugation. The base of any verb (EXCLUDING the copula) is isolated at the head of a complete thought (sentence) and the negation and aspect are likewise limited to the very end of the sentence. Example: Tš'ets p'kyp kĥ t'photþats. Tš'ets p'''kyp ''kĥ t''photþ''ats. Translation: A child will eat the seal. Tenses There are no recognized tenses in K'hh Tllyko. (See above*) Negation Negation is accomplished by using the following particle/suffix. Example: Tš'ets p'kyp kĥ t'photþ 'tɬ'ats. Translation: A child will not eat a seal. Aspects Aspects are somewhat simple to conjugate. They are placed before the tense marker in the verb. The following are all the different present tense indicative third-person animate forms of again the word bova in all seven different aspects. Moods Kop`ll has eleven moods, all of which are marked morphologically, typically after the person marker. The indicative mood is unmarked, being the common mood. Conjugation of the moods will be demonstrated using bova ''once again in the present tense third person animate form. Gerund The gerund in K'hhTllyko is accomplished by adding the prefix tþ’ to any given verb in the present tense. Example: '''tþ’'tš'ets Translation: to eat Additionally there are no supine or infinitive forms of verbs. The Interrogative In K'hhTllyko forming interrogative phrases is relatively easy. Word order is preserved entirely and only the verb tail (end of the sentence) is effected (suffixed onto). Question words (what, where, etc..) preced the verb. An archaic inanimate form persists originally pertaining to all inanimate objects, though is used only in academic contexts and usually to refer to only material things, NOT including man-made objects (ie. What '''rock is that?) Participle Any verb in K'hhTllyko can function as a participle verb when prefixed by the possessive partial and placed after the modifying phrase. Example: photþ at’'''tš'ets Translation: the boy '''who eats or (the eating boy). Pronouns An optional pluralized form exists (-ep/-ek) though it is archaic and again often only seen in writing. Voice Voice in K'hh Tllyko is inflected through the various pronouns, exhibiting lateral influence from the neighboring Kop`ll people. Also present is an again often unused archaic inanimate form. Voice is also present in a similar structure in the nearby Lingap language, suggesting not only lateral but potential vertical influence giving the archaicicy of the K'hh Tllyko inanimate passive structure. The Copula The copula shows in essence, state of being. In K'hh Tllyko the copula is as follows and exhibits an nominative-accusative structure. It is the only such in K'hh Tllyko and it is unclear weather it is later influence from nearby Kop`ll or something else entirely. The accusative "nh" is as written as such, pronounced as either an unvoiced velar nasal, or something between that of an epiglottial fricative and glottal fricative. It is also written as just an "n" or just "h", sometimes even "ĥ" depending on the speaker. = Locatives, Instrumental Cases The general instrumental case is '-tha', which can be translated as "using" "by" or sometimes "with". The general locative case is -'p'at.' It can represent a destination, as well as a location of existence, such as with on, or in as referring to some point in time, as well as a : (VOL) go(PRES) Tokyo(LOC) 1st person pronoun : Let's go to Tokyo! Connective The connective clitic/particle -ytɬ serves to join two or more nouns. It is concivible that this is direct lateral influence from the Kop`ll. Conjunctions Coordinating Coordinating conjunctions in K'hh Tllyko are as follows. ; ot : presents non-contrasting item(s) or idea(s) ("They gamble, and they smoke.") ; yq'y : presents a contrast or exception ("They gamble, but they don't smoke.") ; anha : presents an alternative item or idea ("Every day they gamble, or they smoke.") ; -t'yp/yt'yp : presents an exception ("They gamble, yet they don't smoke.") ; tɬaq : presents a consequence ("He gambled well last night, so he smoked a cigar to celebrate.") : In K'hh Tllyko subordinate clauses must come after the main clause on which they depend. Adjectives Adjectives in K'hh Tllyko are not conjugated. For this example the word t'tsak, cold will be used. They are conjugated using a bastardization of the copula and possessive partial, a literary form exists, - anhat - '''as well as a shortened form. '''nha Example: photþ'nha '''t'tsak'ytɬ''' Translation: the not cold boy Adverbs There is no class of words exclusively describable as adverbs, though various adjectives used often to describe actions begin with an ejective plosive. Number System The K'hh Tllyko number system is base eight. Numbers when used an adjective, also use anhat/nha in the same way. Example: photþ'nha tshet' Translation: the 3 boys Example text Article 1 of the UDHR "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." 'K'hh Tllyko Translation: Tšhets p'ynytanhat tþyktš t'pyk'''ytɬ yqyk't'ytɬnha atsot k'otatha. Paqets tɬhaq'anhytɬ onhtha t'qykho tþykanhp'a ysha tsynyt'a p'tɬ'k'tšathatɬha. ' '''or - ''Tšhets p'ynytahat tþyktš t'pykytɬ yqyk't'ytɬha atsot k'otatha. Paqets tɬhaq'ahytɬ ohtha t'qykho tþykahp'a ysha tsynyt'a p'tɬ'k'tšathatɬha. (n= h modern spelling)' ''Morpheme-by morpheme: Tšhets p'-ynyt-nha tþyk-tš t'pyk-ytɬ yqyk-tha-ytɬ-nha ats-ot k'ot-atha. Paqets tɬhaq'anh-ytɬ onh-tha t'qykho tþykanh-p'a ys-nha tsynyt-tha p'-tɬ'k-tš-atha-tɬha. Gloss: born (DEF.ABS,head)human(POS) all(DEF.ABS,tail) free(AND) free(INST,AND)(POS) dignity(AND) rights(PRES.GNO). endow reason(AND) conscience(INST) (SUB,head)act one,another(LOC) spirit(POS) brotherhood(INST) (DEF.ABS,head)3rd-person-pronoun(DEF.ABS,tail)(GNO.)(SUB,tail).